I am getting my puppy in less then 4 weeks and I have been looking at the different diets available. I know I want to feed raw and Orijen as a backup if I cannot afford/find the right RAW for my puppy... Around where I live we have an abundance of places selling the commercial raw stuff like Stella % chewy's, Bravo, etc.. After doing some math though it comes out to almost $4 a pound for that stuff.

I have a local butcher which also sells Raw mixes. They sell chicken, beef, turkey, and duck in 5lb rolls that are made up of 70% meat, and 30% bone. at $75 for 50lbs that's an amazing price in my book.

The only issue is everything I read said we need to add some organs into the mix. What is everyones recommendation for that approach. I heard I can go to the supermarket and get some then just throw it into the bowl with the other stuff, or I can buy some commercial supplements and add that into the raw mix as well.

We get ours from a local Asian grocery store. Beef kidney and liver, pork liver, turkey gizards, heart, liver, back neck . . . all under 1.49 a pound. The don't have green tripe though. Lots of other end and pieces but the price per pound goes up.

But I was at costco yesterday and saw whole young chickens for 1.19/lb. Probably no organs but pretty cheap on the muscle and bone.

We get ours from a local Asian grocery store. Beef kidney and liver, pork liver, turkey gizards, heart, liver, back neck . . . all under 1.49 a pound. The don't have green tripe though. Lots of other end and pieces but the price per pound goes up.

But I was at costco yesterday and saw whole young chickens for 1.19/lb. Probably no organs but pretty cheap on the muscle and bone.

What I'm asking mostly is should I go for the rolls of ground meat + bone from my local butcher and adding in some kind of organs like you mentioned above? would that be worth it? If I do go that route, how much organs do I add per meal?

I want to be sure I'm doing this right as I like to plan everything out before I start so I dont have a misstep

I have a local butcher which also sells Raw mixes. They sell chicken, beef, turkey, and duck in 5lb rolls that are made up of 70% meat, and 30% bone. at $75 for 50lbs that's an amazing price in my book.

Wish I had a deal like that around me!

If the mixes your butcher sells are just muscle meat and ground bone, then you can just add in the various organs to balance out the meal. You definitely need liver and I strongly recommend green tripe. Other than that, kidney, spleen, stomach, testicles, eyes, etc are all good things to add.

The liver is the only thing I tend to spend more on. I get my liver organic because the liver is the organ that filters out many toxins so I prefer it to be as free of commercial toxins as possible. Though that of course is completely personal preference.

I find chicken and pig feet, pig snouts, and even beef tendon regularly at my local asian market and they are also good things to feed occasionally as they contain a good amount of glucosamine for healthy joints.

Much of raw feeding is constant adjustment. If poop is runny, add more bone, if it is too hard and he is struggling too much, add a bit more liver. You'll be adjusting every week or possibly every day as he grows up, and you'll get used to it quickly.

There are so many different schools of thought on the Muscle Meat vs. Bone ratios out there! I wound't have any problems in feeding 30% bone as part of a raw diet, and I'm probably feeding about that much and always have been.

For the question about organ meats - yes! That is what I would do - just stock up on liver, kidney, spleen, or anything else you may have access to from the supermarket and add that to the prepared raw mix.

Ratio of Organ meats recommended per meal is 5 to 10 %. As a rough guide, one whole chicken liver would be a good amount. For a puppy, I'd start with just a very small amount of liver or other organ meats and gradually work my way up to the 5-10% ratio.

Lucia

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

There are so many different schools of thought on the Muscle Meat vs. Bone ratios out there! I wound't have any problems in feeding 30% bone as part of a raw diet, and I'm probably feeding about that much and always have been.

For the question about organ meats - yes! That is what I would do - just stock up on liver, kidney, spleen, or anything else you may have access to from the supermarket and add that to the prepared raw mix.

Ratio of Organ meats recommended per meal is 5 to 10 %. As a rough guide, one whole chicken liver would be a good amount. For a puppy, I'd start with just a very small amount of liver or other organ meats and gradually work my way up to the 5-10% ratio.

If you do 30% bone, is the dog getting all required vitamins and nutrients from 20% less meat?

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the German Shepherd Dog Forums forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.